Former lumber mill to be demolished

Pottstown Borough Council recently approved the demolition of the former Frederick Brothers building at North Hanover and East streets in Pottstown. According to Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr., the roof is collapsing and the building is no longer structurally sound.
Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury

A notice posted by the Pottstown Code Enforcement Department declaring the former Frederick Brothers building to be unsafe is pictured.

POTTSTOWN - Yet another of the borough's once numerous industrial buildings is slated to be removed.

At its meeting Monday, Borough Council unanimously approved a demolition permit for the former Frederick Brothers Lumber Mill and yard, the brick building that has sat at the corner of East and North Hanover streets for decades.

The roof is collapsing and the building is no longer structurally sound, borough solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. told council at its work session Jan. 5.

Complicating what might seem like a straightforward matter is what lies beneath the building - namely one of the many stormwater arches built as long as 100 years ago over the many streams and ravines running through the borough.

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The collapsing roof of the arch already forced the demolition of the lumber yard's sheds in 2009.

Now that the building is coming down, Public Works Director Doug Yerger warned that things could get complicated quickly because having been inside the arch to inspect it, part of the roof of the arch is actually the wooden floor of the building.

"Part of the building is sitting on what is a pretty significant arch that is already partially collapsed," Yerger told council.

After the building is taken down "we should make sure that arch gets fixed up," said Yerger, who noted the arch is currently "50 percent collapsed."

Although under normal conditions, that still allows enough water to pass through, "if we get a hurricane that arch won't carry the load," Yerger said.

"That building has been an eyesore for a very long time," said Borough Council President Stephen Toroney. "But if that arch is not protected, it could flood the North End from Spruce Street on up."

"It's not just a matter of dropping a five-foot diameter pipe in there," Yerger said. "Some of it is stone, so it's uneven, and with the size it is now, we have some storage capacity there. It's not just that property that it impacts."

Garner noted that it is ultimately the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection which will determine what happens with the arch because it involves a state waterway.

Toroney noted that the DEP's current thinking is to leave waterways in their natural state as much as possible.

"If that thing gets opened up, it might not be so easy to get it closed up again," he said.

Yerger noted that it took quite a bit of time and convincing to get DEP to agree to closing off the ravine behind May Street which allowed for the housing there to be constructed.